Downfall
by Dans le bleu de l'absinthe
Summary: Following the event of the Kage summit, Sasuke encounters Sakura in the land of Iron. // In-progress.
1. Chapter I

**Downfall**

**_An enormous thanks to my beta-reader Raina who turned my crappy English into something worth reading....you're awesome !_**

**Chapter I**

_Here's the charming evening, friend of the criminal;_

_Like an accomplice, stealthily it comes; as the sky_

_Closes slowly just like an immense alcove; while_

_The impatient man turns into a wild beast._

(Charles Baudelaire - Le crépuscule du soir // Twilight)

Once again Uchiha Sasuke was contemplating another of his failures. His plan to attack Danzou during the Kage summit had been a total disaster. Madara had played him like a fool. The goal never was to take out Danzou. It was only to disturb any alliance between the ninja countries and, if possible, lead them to war. But Sasuke, blinded by his rage, for the old Hokage, didn't think about any that.

When Hawk tried to make its move, everybody was already waiting for an attack and all hell broke loose. The distrust that was already there came to a paroxysm. In the chaos of the battle, Sasuke at first tried to get to Danzou. But it was at this moment that he discovered Danzou's own Sharingan, yet another surprise that Madara conveniently had never taken the time to mention. This changed everything.

Soon enough, an army of samurai arrived at the fight scene, trying to restore order while the battle went on fiercely. At that very moment, Sasuke realized that he wasn't going to achieve anything here, save for being captured or killed. He gave the signal to Hawk to disperse and retreat.

And now four hours later, he found himself alone, lost in the land of the Iron Country. For once, he was grateful for the snow as it masked his presence. Since he took out a huge numbers of samurai on his way, he had taken a serious hit on his chakra reserves. He was walking in the snow, searching for shelter as a snowstorm was preparing to hit. He thought of Juugo, Karin and Suigetsu. He was sure they were resourceful but what if they weren't able to escape the storm as well? He was the one who dragged them out here after all. Even as a team leader he was a complete failure. This made him start to wonder when he _didn't_ make a mistake in his life. All these years hating Itachi for nothing, what a fool he had been! And yet he was still as eager to make new ones even now. Would he never learn? But it didn't matter anymore. It was too late to have regrets. Some way or another he would kill those responsible for the Uchiha massacre and take Madara down, even at the cost of his own life. He would clean the name of his brother. Then it would all end with him. The evil blood of the Uchiha would disappear once and for all. No matter how, he would make this happen, even if he had to return from hell for it.

As his blood was burning in the cold snow, Sasuke's senses suddenly became alert as he felt another group of samurai nearby. But when he located them, they were already fighting relentlessly against another opponent.

That's when he saw her.

Her unique pink hair floated against the snow as she gracefully moved like a wild feline. She was outnumbered one to ten. He could sense that she was out of chakra - probably due to some of her fights with other samurai along the way. The samurai were chasing every ninja off the Iron land since the events at the Kage summit. She was in no shape to win this fight. Sasuke watched the scene, wondering what could Sakura still be doing here. This was bad. Many people, including the Raikage, were probably still looking for him so he probably shouldn't interfere. But as his teammate started to take several serious hits, too exhausted to fight any longer, Sasuke found he was no longer able to stop the reaction of his body.

Moments before Sakura could have been stabbed, he appeared in front of her. His chidori sword impaled the samurai poised to kill her while the Sharingan flamed in his eyes. In flash, the Kusanagi was out of her scabbard, and without a second thought, Sasuke killed the remaining samurai. The blood of the samurai tainted the snow a crimson color. Even while he did this, the image of Sakura about to be stabbed to death remained in his mind.

Sasuke returned his attention back to Sakura. His Sharingan met her deep green eyes for the first time since their meeting at Orochimaru's hideout more than a year ago.

- Sa...Sasu..ke...

And with just this one word, the young kunoichi passed out from chakra depletion. Sasuke looked at her lying in the snow like some sort of an angel. After all these years he still wasn't able to repress this urge to protect her. How annoying this was! He just had kill in blind rage for her while he _should_ have let her die and be done with it once and for all. He knew all to well that Sakura Haruno could be his biggest downfall...and yet here he was yearning to run toward it once again.

He gently picked up Sakura in his arms. The sky was now almost totally dark. The storm was coming. The both of them were going to die if Sasuke wasn't able to find shelter soon.

_To be continued...._

**Sorry for the lack of Sasuke/Sakura interaction in this first chapter...but hopefully this will change in the next one ^^**

**Do I need to say that reviews are more than welcome ? **


	2. Chapter II

_**An enormous thanks to my beta-reader Raina who turned my crappy English into something worth reading....you're awesome !**_

**Chapter II**

_You who, like the stab of a knife,_

_Entered my plaintive heart;_

_You who, strong as a herd_

_Of demons, came, ardent and adorned,_

_To make your bed and your domain_

_Of my humiliated mind_

— _Infamous bitch to whom I'm bound_

_Like the convict to his chain,_

_Like the stubborn gambler to the game, _

_Like the drunkard to his wine, _

_Like the maggots to the corpse,_

— _Accurst, accurst be you!_

(Charles Baudelaire - The Vampire)

Sasuke was tired. Killing those samurai had taken a lot of chakra and walking through the snow while holding Sakura was slowly draining him of his remaining strength. He should have known better and not interfered, he would not be in this situation. Damn that annoying girl! She was dragging him down, like she always did. He shouldn't have cared about her; he had goals that needed to be achieved. That should have been all that mattered. And yet his treacherous body had moved without any thought. It was absolutely infuriating. He was possibly going to die here in this snowstorm and still the only thing in mind right now was to save her. The night was now pitch black and even with his Sharingan he was having a hard time seeing anything in the snow. He was starting to think that this was the end. Just one more failure to add to his long list of failures. He shouldn't have expected anything else. He was going to die without achieving anything, without even saving Sakura. How pathetic really.

And then, as any hope was fading away, it appeared before him. An old wood cabin, probably a hunting refuge. He wasn't detecting any presence near by. Apparently the end of Uchiha Sasuke would have to wait to a little more. He was freezing as he entered in the cabin with Sakura still in his arms. Sasuke immediately started a fire to try to warm the interior. Both of his and Sakura's clothes were wet from the snow. The fire wouldn't do them much good if they stayed like this. He was a bit reluctant to undress Sakura. On the other hand, she was dead cold to the touch and would die of hypothermia if let her like this. If it weren't for the cold, Sasuke probably would have blushed while he slowly undressed Sakura, discovering her now very feminine curves. Now only in her pink undergarment, he gently laid her next to him in the little bed of the cabin. Sasuke put his arms around Sakura, holding her tightly against him. Her sweet fragrance was somehow intoxicating and she was so petite and soft. She was just perfect here in his embrace. He was starting to think that he could stay like this forever as he finally gave to his exhaustion, slowly falling asleep next to Sakura.

Three or four hours might have passed as the both of them remained intertwined in their sleep, warming each other, when the pink haired kunoichi slowly started to regain consciousness. Sakura opened her eyes and tried to figure out where she was. The last thing on her mind was the battle in the snow against the samurai. But soon enough she realized that she was not alone. Her head was against the naked torso of a man with her arms was around him. Oddly enough she had never felt this comfortable before. That's when she remembered: Sasuke. It was Sasuke who had saved her when she had thought that she was done for. At that very moment she jumped, suddenly realizing that she was in a bed practically naked with her former teammate...who since then had managed to become one of the most wanted rogue ninja.

As she let herself off the bed, Sasuke stared at her.

- You...

- Hn...

- What are you doing here?

- Other than saving your life you mean?

- By stripping me naked and groping me...you...per...

- Well you didn't seem to mind it that much just a few minutes ago when your hands were all around me...Sakura.

- Just....shut up!

Sakura was furious, covering her body with the blanket as Sasuke smirked at her.

- That's how you thank me for saving you? You used to be more grateful back in the day.

- Well, I used to be a lot of things. Life goes on, Sasuke. I'm not a foolish little girl anymore.

- Really ? You could have fooled me. You're still as annoying as before from what I see.

How unfair this was! Even after all this time trying to get over him, she could still feel her heart aching at his words. Just watching him smirk, looking at her with his cold dark eyes was enough to make her felt like a little girl again. She hated that, hated how he could affect her so easily. She would show him that she's not weak anymore, filling with anger. She wanted to punch that smirk right off his face. At the moment her right fist was glowing with green chakra... but she was still weak from chakra depletion so she started to fall. But before she could hit he floor, she was in Sasuke's arms. Again.

- Easy...you still need to recover.

- Why do you care? Let me go Sasuke!

Sasuke was looking at her intensely. She was so tempting. Her new stubbornness was very alluring to him.

- Do you really want me to let go?

- What do you think Sasuke? That I'm still longing for your attention after all this years? You're really full of yourself.

- Maybe I am.

And without warning he put his lips on hers. Kissing her lightly at first but as she eagerly started responding to him, the kiss quickly deepened, their tongues caressing each other as Sasuke pressed Sakura tightly against him. But suddenly Sakura pushed him back, breaking off their intimacy.

- Don't...don't touch me, you bastard!

- Again with that? Once again, from my point view, it seems that you were enjoying it very much.

- Not even in your dreams.

Sasuke gazed at her. She was so beautiful, so perfect in his arms it was like she was made for him. He was unable to resist the urge of tasting her sweet lips again as he started to lean toward her again. But before he could feel her lips again, she slapped him, as hard as she could.

- Go to hell Sasuke. I'm not your whore.

- You wouldn't have minded a few years ago...in fact you would have begged me.

- I was a stupid little girl who knew nothing about life at that time... and you were not...

- I wasn't what Sakura?

- A soulless murderer."

Her words felt like someone was stabbing through his heart. Seeing Sasuke suddenly lose his cocky attitude gave Sakura more courage.

- Come on Sasuke, do you really that I would still be in love with you? You have betrayed all of your friends without hesitation. You became a traitor to your village went you left to train under Orochimaru, and you've managed to become of the most wanted criminals of any ninja countries. And oh yes the last time we saw each other you tried to kill me and Naruto.

- ....

- The cat got your tongue? She said smiling. You really thought that I would still care for you Sasuke? Let's face it, you're trash, no, even worse than trash. You're a soulless monster, just like your brother. You only care about power... and yourself. Who could love someone like you?"

- Shut up... you don't know anything about me or my brother.

- It's hard to face the truth Sasuke? What are you gonna do? Kill me too?

- I just might...if you don't shut the hell up you worthless bitch!

- Then do it, or are you too much of a coward to kill me while facing me?

Sakura's tone was hard and cruel, trying to hurt and provoke Sasuke the best way she could. As he was starting to loose his sanity, the Sharingan appeared in eyes. All these years he had been holding to the thought of her love, she had been the only person who make him believe he could be something more than a failure one day... and all this time it had been a lie. She had never truly cared for him. He was just a stupid crush and now she was seeing him for what he really was: a worthless piece of trash. This was unbearable. Hearing this from her was torture and right now he would do anything to make the pain go away.

- Sharingan huh... I figured you would resort to such a coward's way.

If you wish to die this much then fine, I'll kill you.

And with that Sasuke's kusanagi was at her throat, the blade pressing against her pale skin as droplet of blood was rising at the tip. Sakura's jade eyes met his burning red ones.

- Go on, Sasuke, do it. You'll be rid of me once and for all.

As his blade pressed a bit more into her skin, he suddenly saw the tears in her eyes. Yet she was smiling somehow, in a serene way, while she waited for him to kill her. At that moment he withdrew his sword, realizing what he was going to do as he was shamefully watched the trace of blood on her neck.

- I'm...I'm sorry. You're right about me."

With these few words, he started to put his clothes on and readied himself to leave. He would rather take his chances in the snowstorm than risk putting Sakura in harm's way again. She watched helplessly, still confused by his declaration. But when he was about to leave her alone... again, she couldn't stop herself and grabbed him just like a few years ago in the Forest of Death, crying against his back.

- Stay... stay with me Sasuke... just for tonight, please.

She was still crying as he slowly turned himself to face her, towering her. He watched her tears fall and then he let himself drop to his knees, his arms wrapped around her waist, holding her tightly.

- Sakura... Thank you. He said with tears in his eyes.

She watched him cry against her and gently caressed his hair. This morning she had agreed with Shikamaru that Sasuke should be stopped, that Konoha couldn't risk a war for him...and here she was with him,her heart longing once again. How pathetic she was. But tonight... just for tonight she would forget everything. Tonight it would be just about them and nothing else. And with that in mind she dropped to her knees too and kissed Sasuke.

_To be continued..._

**Do I need to say that reviews are more than welcome ?**


	3. Note

**I now have a wonderful beta-reader in the person of Raina who's able to turned my writing into decent English.**

**The first two chapters have undergone quite a bit of correction and editing, so for those you who're already following the story I strongly encourage you to read this revised version...and for the new readers well I hope you'll like it.**

**The third chapter should up around this week-end (most likely sunday) depending on my level of procrastination and the availability of Raina.**


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